Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Love (Abridged),

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/love/, Published April 8, 2005, Revised August 11, 2017

*Natural Reader, text-to-speech application, “Karen,” Speed:-4, exported as AIFF, Processed as WAV

A person in a we might find himself coming across something interesting to read yet leaving it for the other person, not because he himself would not be interested in it but because the other would be more interested, and one of them reading it is sufficient for it to be registered by the wider identity now shared, the we.

…our tendencies toward emotional self-protection from another person, tendencies to draw ourselves in and close ourselves off from being affected by him. Love disarms our emotional defenses; it makes us vulnerable to the other.

…while you seem to want it to be true that, were you to become a schmuck, your lover would continue to love you,…you also want it to be the case that your lover would never love a schmuck.

Love is not just an emotion people feel toward other people, but also a complex tying together of the emotions that two or a few more people have; it is a special form of emotional interdependence.

Ultimately, there is only one reason for love. That one grand reason…is “because we bring out the best in each other.” What counts as “the best,” of course, is subject to much individual variation.

…reason is not some external power which dictates how we should behave, but an internal power, integral to who we are.… Reason does not command that we love anyone. Nonetheless, reason is vital in determining whom we love and why we love them.

The intention in love is to form a we and to identify with it as an extended self, to identify one’s fortunes in large part with its fortunes. A willingness to trade up, to destroy the very we you largely identify with, would then be a willingness to destroy your self in the form of your own extended self.

©Tavarus Blackmon, 2019 4

No Pass/No Fail

No Pass/No Fail, A Computer Music for Improvised Voice and Hand-Drum ©Tavarus Blackmon, 2018

Composition, Improvisation, Arrangement, Tavarus Blackmonster, 2018

No Pass/No Fail, Sound Art for Improvised Voice and Hand-Drum, 05:09 minutes, 2018

No Pass/No Fail

Improvised and recorded in 2018, this Sound Art Work conceptualizes the role of the Student from the perspective of the Instructor. The idea of the non-grade is explored as if education was neither based on merit but discovery and introduction nor elite but accessible and entitled. By presenting two disparate voices as counterparts constituent to similar ends, the persona begins emoting with club-like ambiance, with hand-drums orhand-laptop, producing improvised rhythms as palms tap on the surface on the computer while being recorded simultaneously. Conceptually “finding,” lyrics through improvisation, the persona recalls projected ideas about being late, absent and the imaginary fail for general principle. With humor and satire, the voice of the Instructor proposes unreasonable expectations for pre-conceived outcomes, becoming both an authoritarian and irreverent voice.

The voice of the Student discloses intimate knowledge of the experience of a sometimes mischievous and underachieving child yet other-times vulnerable and insecure person. The honest expression of the Student dictates the awkwardness of public education from the perspective of adolescence. To, “…watch Gummy Bears all day,” as is stated, is the goal of the student with none but burgeoning knowledge, potential awakening and public enlightenment before them.

Further themes developed through the composition are critiques of popular culture and Hip-Hop Music, the authenticity of authorship in popular music and the voice as form for abstract sound. The body as an instrument of immediacy and improvisation and technology as an instrument of the body’s expression, specifically DIY Instrumentation, are also explored. It is composed as a Sound Artwork of Computer Music for acousmatic projection through loud speakers.

©Tavarus Blackmon, 2019

No Pass/No Fail (Image), Vector Art, dimensions variable, 2019

©Tavarus Blackmon, 2019

©Tavarus Blackmon, 2019